214 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September 2, 1889; 
viding a like Bum. This undertaking will be com- 
menced probably on the Dindings, if so, it will confer 
a great benefit on the Kelantan settlers at Sungei 
Sitiawan. — Perak Government Gazette. 
PEOSPECTS OP DAIEYING IN CEYLON. 
This is a subject which has been cropping up off 
and on in the local papers, and has been variously 
treated of. In conversation with landowners, I have 
been told that dairying — that is systematic dairying — 
will ne?er succeed in Ceylon; that it will not pay to 
import milch cows at large prices ; that such cows 
from England and Australia do not thrive as well as 
they do where they are native; in fact, that dairying 
has been tried and has not been a success. No doubt, 
it has not been a success, but only on acoount of the 
conditions under which the experiment has been tried. 
With the object of starting a dairy in Ceylon, there 
are two considerations to be noted — of what nature 
is our milking stock to be, and what is to be their 
food P That it will not pay to give large prices for 
foreign cattle, and that they will not come up to 
expectation, there is no doubt of. What should be 
done is that country cattle from stocks of fairly good 
milking qualities should be selected and the strain 
cultivated. The next thing is to provide the cows 
with nutritious and milk-producing food. Of course, 
it will not pay to cultivate turnips, even if we can 
get a decent crop in the hill country: but why should 
we not have good pasturage? Why should we not 
lay down permanent grasses? We trust to the com- 
mon natural grasses to suffice, while with a little 
trouble we may have a good supply of nutritious grass 
food ; and good grass is better than anything for milch 
cows. We have yet to make a complete classification 
of the best feeding grasses in Ceylon, owing to their 
properties not being sufficiently established by chemical 
analysis ; but from observation we know that there are 
some which are better food than others, and why should 
we not select and sow them ? The atora and hariali 
grasses are well known for their good feeding quali- 
ties. I have also been told that the grasses in the 
Island of Delft are peculiarly adapted for producing 
good stock. It suggested itself to my mind that it 
is not unlikely that some of the low-country grasses 
of England, which thrive in the South of France, 
would probably suit the hill oountry of Ceylon. In 
conversation with a gentleman who tried rye grass 
as an experiment, I learned that it should succeed very 
well. There is no reason why we should not use 
ensilage in the dry hot seasons when the grass is 
more or less " burnt up." Considering that there is a 
great deal of vegetation which cattle would not touch 
in the natural state (for instance, thistles and bracken 
in Scotland), but which they greedily devour as silage, 
and that the cost of erecting silage stacks (whioh is 
much cheaper than the old silo) is small, we could 
always have a supply of food for the slack seasons. 
Besides, silage is known to be splendid stuff for dairy 
cows. Of course, the hill country will have to be 
chosen for a dairy farm, as the temperature there is 
best suited for butter manufactory (putting aside 
cheese for the present.) 
With the present prices for dairy produce and the 
demand for good stuff, there is no reason why a Dairy 
Supply Company, with headquarters in Colombo where 
all the produce should be sent, should not be a success. 
— Local " Examiner." 
* 
PAEING AND BUENING VS. FUMIGATION. 
To the Editor of the " Ceylon Examiner." 
Dear Sir,— Your correspondent B. has already indi" 
cated, in his communication on " Fumigation," that 
the sources of his information on agricultural matters, 
and the fields of his observation are very limited. 
Here is a proof of what he says. In his article 
headed " Paring and Burning vs. Fumigation," he says 
that, as far ns his information and personal obser- 
vation go, Nuwara Eliya is the only place in the 
lbluud where the operation of Paring and Burma on 
clayey and pesty soils is regularly and systematically 
carried on. It seems B. has visited Nuwara Eliya, 
perhaps to shake off the dullness he felt by a long 
residence in " a sleepy hollow," as he calls it. 
It will undoubtedly be very interesting, and perhaps 
surprising too, to B. to know that the operation of 
Paring and Burning on clayey and peaty soils has 
been carried on from time immemorial by our na- 
tive goiyas. The oldest native goiyas will bear 
evidence to this fact. It is not a thing which has 
been taught to them by Europeans. It is regularly 
and systematically carried on even at present not 
only at Nuwara Eliya, as B. imagines, but also at 
most of the other places in the Island where lands 
having clayey and peatv soils are put under cultivation. 
The native goiyas often resort to this operation 
for the preparation of land in the cultivation of paddy 
for " Kekulan " on clayey and peaty soils. Has B. 
heard of the popular Sinhalese agricultural expressions 
"Kekulan Kotanewa" and "Kekulan Pullussenewa " — 
the former means paring, and the latter burning, 
for Kekulan sowing ? 
Again, in speaking on " fumigation " B. says he 
has never worked in a laboratory and has never 
carried out scientifically conducted experiments — or 
in short, I mieht say, he never has had a scientificr 
education. This is evident from his explanation of 
the composition of smoke given off by the burning 
of organic matter. He says that smoke is the moisture 
contained in a substance that is burnt passing off 
in the form of vapour, or in short that, it is steam 
or watery vapour. B. must learn that the smoke 
given off by the burning of organic matter is composed 
principally of unoxidised carbon atoms or soot, in 
addition to a little watery vapour &c, of course. A 
first lesson in chemistry would have taught him this. 
Does B. know the chemistry of the burning of a 
candle ? If he conducts the smoke given off by the 
burning of organic matter or Carbon through a tube 
— a bamboo with the divisions knocked off will answer 
the purpose — and lights the smoke as it comes out 
at the other end, he will see that the smoke burns, 
proving that it is mainly composed of unburnt Carbon 
atoms. The denser the smoke, the greater is the 
amount of unoxidised Carbon atoms. 
In an article on Salt written on the 15th April, 
B. says " Silica is a substance that stiffens all 
forms of vegetation." This was a very popular belief, 
but late experiments have tended to prove that 
stiffness does not depend on the presence of Silica 
in the soil. — Yours truly, L. 
Last week we quoted some remarks on Kawkie 
pine from the Timber Trades Journal. Eeverting to 
the subject in its issue of July 20th, our contem- 
porary says : — " We are informed that the large logs 
of which we wrote have all been recently sold. 
Seeing them still in the sheds and knowing that 
they have been there since the middle of 1886, 
we naturally supposed them to be still on hand, 
and regret that we inadvertently made the mistake. 
We congratulate the brokers on having cleared 
them, and hope the buyer will find a ready market 
for them. It is rather a matter of surprise that 
Australian woods are not more pushed in this 
country. They have several advantages over the 
hard woods from colder climes, inrsmuch as they 
are practically impervious to dry rot, and there- 
fore well adapted for any work where it has to 
rest on bare ground. W« understand a contract 
has been entered into for Jarrah in the formation 
of a wood-paved roadway, this description being 
required to form the gutter, or sidings. Instead of 
our Australian friends waiting for the trade t<) 
come to them, they should push their timber on 
the market here, and establish a demand, even if 
they have to be out of pocket at first. For wood 
paving, and any permanent roadway, better timber 
oould not be found." — E. Mail. 
